Venezuela
replaces opposition TV with state network
Mon May 28, 2007 8:23AM EDT
By Brian Ellsworth and Christian Oliver
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela shut down an opposition television
channel on Monday and replaced it with one promoting President Hugo
Chavez's self-proclaimed socialist revolution in a move widely
criticized as a threat to democracy.
Chavez has long sparred with opposition channels, which he calls
"horsemen of the apocalypse" for backing a botched coup against him
in 2002.
His opponents say the internationally condemned closure of RCTV
will damage freedom of expression in the OPEC nation.
"This has exposed the abusive, arbitrary and autocratic nature of
Chavez's government, a government that fears free thought, that
fears opinion and fears criticism," said Marcel Granier, chief of
RCTV, the country's oldest broadcaster.
The closure of the channel exposed the country's sharp political
divide -- thousands of Chavez supporters held street parties while
opposition demonstrators faced cordons of police, chanting
anti-government slogans.
In a tearful farewell program, RCTV staff packed a studio and
prayed together.
"Do not lose hope. We will see you soon," RCTV presenter Nelson
Bustamante told viewers.
Twenty minutes after RCTV was pulled off air, the state channel
started transmission with the national anthem conducted by Gustavo
Dudamel, the 26-year-old Venezuelan who was appointed as music
director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Programming started with a concert of traditional melodies,
interspersed with government trailers. After the concert, the
channel planned to show a film on 19th-century commander Simon
Bolivar, Chavez's hero who freed much of South America from
Spain.
CENTRALIZING THE STATE
Since becoming president in 1999, Chavez has centralized power,
politicizing the judiciary, military and oil industry.
But before the closure of RCTV, political analysts had identified
Venezuela's critical media as one of the main guards against him
forging a Cuban-style system in the footsteps of his mentor,
communist leader Fidel Castro.
The closure was condemned by the U.S. Senate and the EU Parliament,
but Chavez's supporters justified the move by criticizing the
journalistic ethics of the channel.
RCTV ran movies and cartoons when the tide turned in Chavez's favor
in the 2002 coup, and refused to show huge crowds of the
president's supporters rallying against the coup leaders.
Pollster Datanalisis found almost 70 percent of Venezuelans opposed
the shut-down, but most cited the loss of their favorite soap
operas rather than concerns about limits on freedom of
expression.
Among the Chavez supporters swigging beer and dancing in the
streets of central Caracas, some thought the president should go
further and shut down the few remaining opposition networks, such
as Globovision.
"They all participated in the coup and incited violence," said
shopkeeper Jose Quijada, 58, wearing the hallmark red T-shirt of
Chavez supporters.
But Wilmer Granadillo, a cameraman doing his last shift at RCTV,
said: "It is sad, so sad. This was my second home."
Most dictatorial regimes would
want to control the media, to control the people's thoughts and
ideas.
